Ames Coryell, successful advertising executive, is bringing his wife, Leona, and their three year old daughter home from a peaceful, happy summer vacation. They arrive home at 3:00 a.m. Leona opens the front door and goes into their home. In the time it takes her husband to carry their daughter upstairs and come back down, she has disappeared — into thin air.

No signs of a struggle, purse left behind, and no goodbye note. What happened to Leona? And why does their daughter tell the police “why didn’t Mommy come home with us?”

Ames attempts to locate Leona himself, after feeling frustrated by the apparent unconcern of the police. On the other hand, the police consider it a strong possibility that Ames killed his wife.

When a woman resembling Leona is found murdered (discovered by Ames, no less!), the action and intrigue quicken.

This is a tautly written tale, with strong characterization and a compelling style. Thin Air is not likely to disappoint any mystery fan.

This one brings back some memories. When I read this book back in the late 1950s, which had to have been the Dell paperback edition, I’m sure, I know I was completely knocked out by the story line.

What’s frustrating, though, is that I have no idea how it ended. I remember thinking back then that it was as good as anything written by Cornell Woolrich, but whether or not that comparison would stand up today, I don’t know.

One question that occurs to me now is why Hollywood, either TV or the movies, never made a film of this book. I’d think that it’s a story that they’d snap up right away.

Of course Browne was a legendary sf editor and writer (many of the HAWK CARSE novellas by ‘Anthony Gilmore’) and probably best known as John Evans for the Paul Pine books, one of the best Chandleresque private eye series. One of the Pine books was the basis for the pilot of Warner’s Bourbon Street Beat with Richard Long and Andrew Duggan.

Thin Air was a good one though and very much in the Woolrich style.

Browne also ghosted Mickey Spillane’s only sf story “The Green Woman” for Fantastic when Mickey couldn’t make the deadline.

Howard Browne is a favorite of mine because of his Paul Pine novels and his time as editor of the telephone book sized MAMMOTH DETECTIVE. He also was editor of other magazines including the interesting experiment of the *quality* FANTASTIC digest. I met him at Pulpcon when he was a guest.

However, he did not write the HAWK CARSE stories. David is thinking of ASTOUNDING’s first editor Harry Bates and his assistant, Desmond W. Hall. They wrote the series under the Anthony Gilmore name.

Actually, Stephen J. Cannell adapted THIN AIR as a first-season episode of THE ROCKFORD FILES with Jim Rockford returning from a vacation with his girlfriend and her daughter. It featured an atypically (for the show) glum ending.

I am pretty sure Cannell used it on at least one other show, maybe JIGSAW? THIN AIR also turned up as a SIMON & SIMON in the 80s. These are all Universal series, so perhaps the studio still owns the screen rights.

Thanks, Marty, for the info on those TV versions of THIN AIR. I’ve been watching the first season of ROCKFORD, but I haven’t gotten that far yet.

They changed the title to “Sleight of Hand,” but the synopsis makes it clear that it’s THIN AIR they used as a basis; 17 January 1975 (Season 1, Episode 16). Browne was credited, by the way.

Says one reviewer:

“This is a very noir kind of episode. It begins with Jim returning from a weekend trip with a new girlfriend, the recently divorced Karen Mills (Pat Delaney–daughter in law of John Huston, who knew a few things about noir film) and her daughter….”

You’re right about SIMON & SIMON also. “Thin Air” was the title of the episode telecast on 30 December 1982 (Season 2, Episode 10). I have the first season on DVD, but not the second, as I haven’t started watching the first one yet.

I wasn’t, in fact, all that interested in SIMON & SIMON when it was on. Too may other PI shows on that I thought were better, I guess. Now of course, when good PI shows are seldom and far between, perhaps I’d be more easily satisfied.

There are no other IMDB credits for Browne that look promising, as far as being adaptations of THIN AIR, including JIGSAW.

For some reason, it never occurred to me to look for individual TV episodes last night when I said that Hollywood had missed an obvious bet in not making a film out of THIN AIR.

It still doesn’t look as though they did — make a film, that is — but good stories seldom go to waste, either, and it’s good to know this one didn’t…

But the Pine books really are a remarkable series that managed to follow the Chandler mold without aping or copying them, Pine giving early indications of what could be done with that voice and style of writing.

Nothing unusual about a novel or story being adapted multiple times by different series.

Roy Huggins Stu Bailey story “Appointment with Fear” may hold the record other than Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game.” Aside from being the basis for the movies The Good Humor Man and State Secret, Huggins also used it on 77 Sunset Strip (I think more than once, as one of the pilots and then at least one or two episodes)and likely more than a few times on the other series he was associated with.